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Change of Heart for TG Deputy Mayor

By Doug Grow
Columnist, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Contributed by Rose Press
St. Paul, MN
December 20, 1998


Susan Kimberly
I knew Susan Kimberly when she was hurting badly.

This was in the early 1990s. Kimberly, who hand undergone a sex change in 1984, saw crisis wherever she looked. She had feuded publicly with Jim Scheibel, mayor of St. Paul at the time. The feud left her cut off from her lifeblood, City Hall. She was rapidly running out of money. Her sexuality made it hard to get work. Things got so desperate that in 1993 she was forced to sell her beloved classic Mustang. She was trying to write a play about her extraordinary life. ("Superman meets Lois Lane," was the working title. "I've decided I was a lousy playwright," she said.) She was trying to come to grips with her former self, Bob Sylvester, who had been a successful politician and businessman.

Just as she was making a personal comeback, Norm Coleman, whom she considered a friend, threw her for a loop. In 1994, Coleman became St. Paul's mayor and in one of his first public acts refused to sign a proclamation celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender week in St. Paul. For years, St. Paul mayors had been signing the proclamation as a matter of routine. Kimberly, who had been Coleman's neighbor, was deeply hurt. "I -thought- he was my friend," Kimberly said at the time.

All this culminated with a small but remarkable event last week. Coleman, who still campaigns against civil rights protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and those who have changed their gender, named Kimberly his deputy mayor.

"Liberals believe in handouts and proclamations," Coleman was quoted as saying when he appointed Kimberly. "I believe in recognizing people for their talent and competency."

It was a noble answer. But the big question is, what motivated Kimberly to take a job working directly for Coleman? Was this an act of forgiveness, ambition, or desperation?

Desperation can be ruled out. Times are good for Kimberly. After losing a race for the Ramsey County Board a few years ago, she said she finally learned "I'm just not a great candidate." For the past few years, she's been doing work she loves, first for the St. Paul Coalition for Community Development, and for the last two years in the city's Planning and Economic Development Department. No longer is she constantly fretting about the bills.

As her spirits have risen, she's followed Coleman across the political spectrum, moving from left to right. Sylvester/Kimberlly once was a big- government liberal. Like Coleman, she has become a believer that those old, liberal. big-government ideas no longer are effective.

"We agree on most things," Kimberly said of her alignment with Coleman. "I respect that he and I have different views on this [sexuality] issue."

What a profound issue to disagree on. Sexual identity is as fundamental as it gets. Obviously, few understand that so clearly as Kimberly. When, in 1994, Coleman refused to sign that simple gay pride proclamation, she felt personally rebuked. Given the chance, Coleman would take away basic civil rights protection that people like Susan Kimberly worked hard to get in both city ordinances and the Minnesota Constitution.

Comfortable as she is with the idea that she's now -almost- a Coleman-like conservative, Kimberly does agree the big government she now abhors did set the stage for people to step out of the closet. Over time, civil rights laws did help reshape attitudes in this country. With some brutal exceptions, acceptance has become the rule.

"I think that if my tribe were dealing with the political realities of the 1960s and 1970s, we would be marching to Washington just as African-Americans and Indians did," Kimberly said. "We wouldn't have any choice but to do that. But that era is over/ We've moved away from the idea that government solves problems for people. For my people, it is a matter of coming out and being out and conducting ourselves in a way that earns us the respect we deserve."

What happens if the mayor tries to erase civil rights language in St. Paul?

"If this comes up," Kimberly said, "he and I will have a conversation and we'll decide what we'll do. I'm not the only one who can stand up for the rights of my people."

By becoming deputy mayor, a position she deserves on merit, Kimberly comes close to living a childhood dream. The other day, she recalled again how Bobby Sylverster was 12 years old when he got the political bug.

"I was disappointed to learn in 1954 that they were only going to have cake and coffee to celebrate the city's centennial," Kimberly recalled. "I wrote a letter to John Daubney, who was the mayor. He explained why - there wasn't a budget - and invited my mother and I to join he and the City Council in the council chambers. After the coffee and cake, he showed me his office and I was hooked. I told myself that someday I'd be mayor."

She's not getting the mayor's office, but as of Jan 4, she's moving right next door.

"I'm pleased with how it's all turned out," she said.

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